'It's an honour to manage at Anfield'
Ahead of their Women's FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal at Anfield on Friday night, we caught up with Liverpool Ladies boss Matt Beard - who explained why he is hoping the support of the Kop can help his charges beat the best women's team in the country.
The close season saw a remarkable transformation of the Reds' ladies team with a virtual new side - and indeed squad - assembled, but the clash with the Gunners will be their toughest test yet.
Arsenal are the team to beat in women's football and are reigning Super League champions.
The game on Friday night kicks off at 7pm BST, and Beard is hoping his team can embrace the Anfield experience and claim a famous victory.
Watch the match at Anfield from just £1>>
Matt, Anfield beckons in the Women's FA Cup semi-final - how much are you looking forward to it?
We can't wait now. We have worked hard to get there to start with. Our preparation and training has been good this week and we are looking forward to the occasion. Hopefully we can make it to the FA Cup final.
How did getting the chance to play at Anfield come about?
It's actually classed as a neutral venue, believe it or not. The FA sorted it with the two clubs directly and for our players and the Arsenal players it will be a great occasion - and for me to manage a Liverpool team at Anfield will be a great honour.
This season already you have met Brendan Rodgers, trained with the first team and now have the opportunity to savour the Anfield experience - does it get much better than that?
Only if we go on and win the game and then go on to win the trophy. The support from the club and from Brendan towards me has been brilliant. I can't ask for any more and we are looking forward to the occasion.
Arsenal are the opposition...just how good are they?
They are a good side. They have dominated the women's game in England for many years now. Chelsea are now looking to challenge them and we are making giant steps in the right direction. I think they are a little bit weaker than they were last season because Kelly Smith is out injured and Katie Chapman is pregnant, which is a big loss for them. When I was with Chelsea last year we beat them in the FA Cup semi-final. They come into the game on the back of two defeats in the Women's Champions League, so I think we've got a good chance. I've watched quite a few of their games recently and not much has changed from the way they normally play. They are an established group who have been together for a long time and I guess that's the advantage they will have on the night over us with us being such a new group.
You have been in superb form so far this season - just how do you go about trying to beat Arsenal?
First and foremost our preparation is going to be exactly the same as it is for any normal game. For the players it's just giving them that little bit of belief. We sat down this week and showed them clips of Arsenal's strengths and weaknesses and how we can exploit that. We have been working hard on the training pitch to make sure we are solid and get our game plan right. As long as we stick to our game plan, I'm confident we can win the game. The players have got to have that belief and, to be fair to them, all season and in the pre-season they have been spot on in the games, so I'm confident within the group they have that in their locker mentally.
While there may be one or two nerves amongst the players, do you think playing at Anfield will inspire them?
It's a fantastic stadium and the history is there. One of the first things I did when I got the group together is to make sure we took the squad to Anfield and took the tour to teach everyone about the club's history. Unless you work for this club or support the club, you don't know what football means to the fans and this city. The players need to understand that. We've got a great opportunity as a football club to write our own history and what better place to start than at Anfield by beating Arsenal to reach the FA Cup final?
For the Liverpool fans in your squad, is this extra special for them?
I guess so as their dream is to play at the stadium - but once we get there and once that whistle goes we've got a job to do. We've got to be professional and we've got to play the game and not the occasion.
What would it mean to take this team all the way through to the final?
It would be a really big achievement because this is a new group. We haven't had that many competitive games prior to the FA Cup semi-final. If you look at the men's format, the final is one of the last games of the season so it's a great opportunity to win a trophy early. If we can do that then I think that can kick us on for the rest of the season to challenge for the league title as well.
You know what it's like to take a team to the final at the expense of Arsenal having done it with Chelsea last year...
No-one expected it at Chelsea and funnily enough Arsenal were in the same sort of form coming into that game as they had been knocked out of the Champions League. I can draw on that experience of last year but with us there's no real pressure to win the game. It will be a good benchmark to see exactly how we have progressed and we'll see how we go on the night.
There's a real feel good factor about the ladies team at the moment with a lot of people taking interest in your results...
I guess that comes with us winning games. If you look at the history of Liverpool Ladies, in the last two years we haven't been winning games. It's like anything, if your team is doing well and winning there's a lot of interest in what you are doing. Because of what we did do in pre-season, there's been a lot of interest with the players we have brought in and the direction we are trying to go in. It's fantastic the support we are getting and hopefully we can get the Kop full on Friday night and it will be a night to savour for Liverpool Ladies.
You also made a great start to your Super League season with a 1-0 win at Lincoln - how much confidence can the girls take from that?
It was a good win in tough conditions. It was really windy and I was pleased with the performance, especially the second half when we had to defend against the wind. We kept the ball really well and could have won it by two or three goals in the end. The way we have started has been pleasing. We have shown good character and good resolve and most importantly we have been very disciplined.